Above, Wallace Hooks operates grain truck for P & H Farms harvesting corn on the Gerorge Rogers Farm in Lyon County.-Photo courtesy of Susan Fox

Area farmers are in a bind because of unusually cool and rainy weather, but they are “hanging tough.” In the last year, they’ve had numerous weather-related obstacles to cover come.
That’s the word from Lyon County Agricultural Extension Agent Susan Fox.
Some large farmers stand to lose their profit margin in corn, tobacco and soybeans unless they get a little less rain and a little more sun.
“They could lose all their profit and be in the hole,” Fox said, noting that after expenses that last percentage of the harvest could be the farmer’s profit. “And even the tobacco that has been cut — the burley and the air cured — they are having problems with it molding in the barn. Some of them have been trying to cut tobacco, but it just won’t dry in the field. ... It’s not wilting down in the field, it’s staying green and then when they try and bring it in, it tears up. So the ones who are still trying to bring it in are losing maybe 25 percent.”
About 50 percent of the county’s corn remains in the field, 25 percent of tobacco remains to be cut and only 5 percent to 10 percent of beans have been harvested, Fox said. Making the situation even more precarious, the wet weather has muddied fields to the point some equipment can’t get in to harvest the crops.
Rainfall at the weather station in Princeton during the seven days preceding Monday was 3.84 inches, 3.15 inches more than normal for the period. From Jan. 1 through Sunday, 45.73 inches had fallen here, and that’s 6.24 inches more than normal.
Large farmers face another problem in that the Mexican workers hired to help with the harvest may have to return home before it’s completed. “There’s at least one farmer who is looking into getting an extension (of the workers’ contract).” Fox said, noting that the Mexicans come here to work under the federal H2A program. “It’s a contract program. ... It’s a legal way of bringing Mexicans in to help with the crop.”
Tobacco farmers who grow 30 acres or more usually employ Mexican workers at harvest time. “It’s hard to find enough local help to do the tobacco,” Fox said. “There are not enough people out there who want to work in tobacco. ... Tobacco is very labor intensive.”
Farmers who grow large corn crops have full-time employees and much of the work is done with machines.
Fox has 16 tobacco farmers listed in Lyon County and seven or eight large corn farmers. She said the number is difficult to pin point because they farm across county lines.
Because of the rainy, damp conditions, corn farmers are seeing diplodia ear rot, said University of Kentucky plant pathologist Paul Vincelli. The fungus that causes diplodia ear rot won’t develop further if the moisture content is below 15.5 percent, but it could cause other fungi to attack.
Another potential problem is kernels sprouting in the lower portion of the ear.
“Sprouting kernels are not a direct hazard to livestock,” said a news release. “However, molds are sometimes associated with sprouting and some molds can produce mycotoxins.”
Fox said a great deal of corn is sold for human consumption so farmers will have to clean it and get the broken corn out. And the price can be docked.
“Usually you’ve got a fairly large amount of money you need to earn to cover your production costs,” Fox said. “You do all that first, and then everything extra over your cost is going to be your profit. That’s usually going to be a fairly small amount compared to production costs. You might need to harvest 80 percent of it before you start earning a profit.”
Not only have farmers been plagued by a cool, rainy growing and harvest season, in the last 18 months, they’ve endured two droughts, two ice storms — one, Jan. 26-28 was the worst in recorded Kentucky history — plus Hurricane Ike.
Besides, rot, mold and kernel sprouting, corn stalk breakage also presents a problem.
“I think (growers) get frustrated with it, but they are farmers, and are somewhat philosophical, they are used to facing problems,” Fox said. “They have had several things, they’ve had ice, ice storm, and now this long, cool, wet year.